


the right feeling

by finnhoe



Series: it starts in my toes (or my wrist and your elbow) [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/F, Kinda, M/M, Soulmate AU, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, best friends finnrey, finn is all of us, my favs, the ultimate poe fanboy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-26 20:42:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6255103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/finnhoe/pseuds/finnhoe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>soulmates au where the first thing your soulmate says to you is engraved on the place on your body that they first touch. finn's is weird and he has given up all hope until he meets his. panicked cute finn and cool nerd poe dameron ensue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the right feeling

**Author's Note:**

> this is going to be part of a three part series (hopefully) and will have an actual plot i promise! and maybe i will add in angst if i'm feeling wild, but for now enjoy the first part!
> 
>  
> 
> inspiration

Everyone knows the cardinal rule of having a soulmate.

Don’t go searching for them.

 

And Finn really really is trying his best to do this, but it’s so hard when he’s now 23 and all of his friends, even fucking REY, who hates relationships, have found their mates.

 

So what the literal shit is his waiting on?

 

Finn considers himself a pretty good catch. He’s fit, he’s got nice big arms, he has a nice jawline and he has a fuckin’ stellar personality, if he does say so himself. He’s also like, super young and spry and has really good stamina if you know what he means.

 

So, you can imagine his frustration when he’s the odd one out of his friends.

 

“Finn, just shut up,” Rey is laying on the floor of her living room, with her face into the carpet, making her desperate pleas muffled.

 

Finn glares at her, even though she can’t see. He turns his attention back to the pillow in his lap, as he plays with the little button on it from his spot on the couch.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry, Rey. Is my loneliness bothering you? Are my cries for affection hindering your day? Sorry, I’ll just leave then,” Finn cries, his words bleeding with the sarcasm that he knows he got from Rey.

 

Rey chuckles, her body shaking with it. She turns over on to her back and makes eye contact with Finn, who is still wearing a look of pity.

 

“I’m sorry you haven’t found your soulmate, Finn. It’s just that not your normal person would come up to you and say, ‘and the ram disappears’. I mean, what the fuck kind of sentence is that?” Rey gestures with her hands in a ‘what the fuck’ gesture while laughing.

 

“Rey sometimes you are so rude. I already know that my sentence is fucking weird. No one is ever going to say it. The universe is fucking with me. I’m doomed,” Finn traces the sentence on the top of his wrist that indicates his soulmate.

 

It’s a weird system, Finn thinks. Everyone on the night of their 18th birthday has a tattoo appear anywhere on their body. Wherever it’s located, is where their soulmate will touch them as they say the sentence engraved there. Oh, and it will always be the very first words their soulmate says to them. Apparently, you know if they’re your soulmate because the words will disappear from you after they touch them as they say it. It’s complicated.

 

But Finn knows he hasn’t met his yet because he’s pretty sure no one has ever met him and said ‘and the ram disappears’.

 

“Hey, you never know, love. Maybe you’ll meet them in a coffee shop tomorrow or something amidst a flurry of coffee and people, just like every other young adult novel,” Rey is laughing as she says this, getting up from her spot to walk to the kitchen.

“Don’t tease me. You think this is a game, Rey? I’ve been waiting for my soulmate my whole entire life,” Finn groans, tossing his arm over his face like a large disgruntled toddler.

 

“Haven’t we all?” Rey comments, beginning to put away the dishes from the dishwasher.

 

And if looks could kill. Finn sits up on the couch to make eye contact with her, and she’s already laughing from her own joke because Rey has most definitely not been waiting and she wasn’t even waiting before she met Jessika. She couldn’t have given less than a shit about a relationship before she met her mate.

 

“I hate you and I don’t know why I’m best friends with you. This friendship is over,” Finn fires back as he gets up and throws his denim jacket on over his white t-shirt while getting his car keys off the table.

 

“Wait, don’t leave, Finn!” Rey calls to Finn’s retreating back as he begins to open the front door.

 

Finn turns around with an expectant look on his face, ready to hear Rey apologize for making fun of his sadness.

 

Rey smooths out the white cropped t-shirt she has on and straightens her black leather jacket that matches her black jeans. “Would this outfit look good with my silver heeled booties? I have a dinner date with Jessika later,” she asks, and her face is too unsure of her outfit for Finn to stay mad at her.

 

Finn rolls his eyes and walks over to Rey, kissing her forehead before pulling back and saying, “Of course they go with it. You look gorgeous as always”.

 

Rey beams and Finn walks away to the door calling, “Love you, be safe, use protection!”

 

Finn hears Rey call back a ‘love you, too!’ as he shuts the door behind him.

 

Damn it. Damn Rey and her perfect love life and perfect girlfriend. (Except don’t damn Rey because he very much loves her even if she teases him.)

 

\--

Finn is impulsive, to say the least.

 

He heard that his local movie theatre charges half the price of normal tickets on Tuesday so naturally, he decides to go to a movie.

 

On a Tuesday.

 

Alone.

 

Great. Just the perfect representation of his whole entire life.

 

It’s supposed to be a good movie, though. Something about stars and wars. Rey told him to go watch it on his day off of work.

 

So, he begrudgingly buys his ticket at the stand and proceeds to the front door to have his ticket checked. The girl who is ripping the tickets gives him a once over and smiles before giving him back his ticket and Finn swears she just winked at him.

 

He shakes it off, though, and decides to go take a piss so he doesn’t have to leave halfway through while his bladder threatens to explode.

 

Finn enters the bathroom and notes how it’s completely empty because who would be lonely enough to go to the movies on a Tuesday afternoon.

 

Well, Finn is.

 

He goes up to the mirror first and scans his appearance. He adjusts his black t-shirt and dark blue skinny jeans and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t flex his arm in the mirror to gawk at his own muscles.

 

He decides to snap a selfie to send to Rey, because she should be a part of this horrible experience with him.

 

With the raise of a middle finger to the camera and a bright smile, Finn snaps the picture and captions it ‘here’s me being alone bc ur horrible and forced me to do this (ps i dont need to get out more and im not a hermit fuck u)’ before pressing send.

 

Perfect. He leaves the bathroom then, forgetting all about how he should have gone pee. Oh well, hopefully his bladder holds up. It will.

 

Probably.

Finn walks to find his theatre room and he spots the back of a man’s head, who has slightly longer black, wavy hair. He doesn’t know why he feels like this man is out of the ordinary, but he does. Oh, well.

 

He finds his designated room and sits down with his Starbucks coffee that he snuck in which probably was a poor decision because he knows coffee makes him literally have to shit his pants. It’s an epidemic, Finn swears.

 

He doesn’t get even halfway through the movie before he has to take a massive shit.

 

And honestly, Finn doesn’t know why he keeps doing this to himself. He does this all the time in movies, where he always leaves right at the good part because he feels like his lower half is going to combust all over the place. At least Rey isn’t here to yell at him.

 

But when he leaves the theatre, there’s a small crowd of people formed by the doorway, apparently watching an event that’s happening outside. They’re laughing, and some people have their phones out, recording.

 

He stops a worker that is also watching from afar and asks, “What is going on outside?”

 

The worker laughs before turning to him and replying, “You won’t believe this, but apparently someone had a sheep in the back of their truck to take to the vet and when they stopped to get gas, the sheep got out of the truck and wandered into the parking lot. Sounds like something someone makes up, or something you see on the Onion, doesn’t it?” the employee giggles while shaking his head and walking away.

 

He hears the laughter get louder and okay, Finn has to see this for himself.

 

He fixes his gaze on the window as he fits himself into the crowd, but he can’t see the sheep.

 

Finn feels a hand on his right wrist, as a voice says, “And the ram disappears.”

And holy shit.

 

Finn gasps, looking down at his wrist, and he can see the tattoo already fading and going away. He feels an electric jolt down his spine like something just shocked him. His senses are cloudy, and he feels like he’s gonna faint.

 

He hasn’t even had time to look at the person before he’s falling back a little bit, catching himself halfway through before grabbing on to the inside of the person’s elbow and whispering, “Holy shit.”

 

And he hears a gasp similar to his own.

 

Finn finally looks at the person and feels like his stomach just flipped upside down.

 

The man is beautifully distraught, frantically pulling up his sleeve to look at the spot that Finn just grabbed. He seems to have a better grasp on to himself than Finn did, because even though his hands are shaking he’s able to meet Finn’s eyes.

 

They search each other’s eyes and features for a good 10 seconds, just trying to get a hold of themselves. Finn sees the man’s amazing bone structure, his large mesmerizing light brown eyes, the black hair that has loose waves and a little bit of grey.

The man sees Finn’s full lips, his slightly furrowed eyebrows, he sees the deep brown eyes that hold giddiness and a little bit of fear.

 

Finn realizes that he still has a grip on the man’s forearm. He quickly lets go and places his trembling hands by his sides.

 

“I’m Poe, and I believe that you’re my soulmate,” the beautiful man (no, Finn’s soulmate!!!!!!) finally speaks up.

 

It takes Finn a second to process his response before he swallows and forces himself to choke out a response, “I’m Finn, and yeah I think I am, too”.

 

“Should we, um. Should we go and sit down, then?” the man, Poe, suggests, eyebrows raising slightly in question.

 

Finn slowly nods, eyes still scanning Poe’s face and trying to process the fact that holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit, he just met the person he’s going to spend the rest of his life with.

 

Finn sends a silent thank you that Poe is able to form coherent thoughts right now because Finn’s brain just left for the day.

 

They find a table in the nearby coffee shop, since the movie theatre is placed in a mall. Finn slowly takes a seat, as if Poe is judging his every move. But Finn is really watching Poe’s every move. He’s taking note in how Poe walks, with his head up and shoulders back and how this exudes confidence. He watches how Poe gently grabs the chair to pull it out, as if the chair has feelings.

 

Finn watches how Poe sits and scans him as well, with a hopeful and eager look in his eyes. And shit, he should probably stop staring and start talking.

 

“I’m Finn,” are the only words Finn can get out, which he’s mentally kicking himself for because he already said this and Poe already knows his name, you dumbass.

 

Thankfully, Poe laughs almost a relieved giggle, like he’s glad that Finn is just as nervous as he is for this. “I heard. So, where are you from?,” Poe observes, leaning forward in his chair like he’s dying to hear the answer.

 

It takes Finn a second to respond because he’s honestly caught up in the sheer beauty of this man, but he gets out the words, “I’m from a super small town in Washington. Me and my best friend Rey moved here about six months ago.”

 

Poe raises his eyebrows, “Just six months? Man, you’re a newbie. I was born and raised in California, this is my home.”

 

Finn smiles, feeling eternally grateful for the ease of the conversation and for the fact that friendliness and warmth just radiates from Poe.

 

“Well, you can show me the ropes of how to be a proper Californian, can’t you?” Finn gives himself an internal high five for that one. Just call him Smooth Finn.

 

Poe grins, flashing perfectly straight teeth before winking and replying, “I think we’ll have plenty of time for that.”

 

Which, Finn dies inside at that. He winked. Literally winked. Who fucking winks anymore? Not Finn. But Poe winks at Finn. Poe does a lot of things to Finn already. He doesn’t know if he can handle this.

 

Finn recovers (barely) and laughs, “Do you want any coffee or anything? I’ll buy.”

 

Poe shakes his head and replies,”Nah, I'm picky about my coffee."

 

Finn smiles and comments, “I understand. I used to really hate coffee, it was horrible. I loved tea so much. But then, eventually, when I got older and into college, everyone around me forced it down my throat and made me drink it and now I’m hooked. It was awfully sadistic of them, really. I couldn’t fuckin’ stand it.”

 

Poe genuinely laughs, taken aback by the change from the man who couldn’t form a sentence to a man that is cursing and making jokes. He swears he’s falling in love already.

 

Finn beams at the fact that he made Poe laugh like that because honestly, it was so adorable. His eyes crinkled up and his smile was blinding. Finn wants to make Poe laugh forever.

 

“I have literally always had such a love/hate relationship with coffee. Sometimes it tastes like heaven, other times it tastes like ass,” Poe jokes, loving the way the banter flows between them.

 

Finn chuckles, shaking his head. Suddenly, an idea pops into his head. “Let’s play a game. We take turns asking questions, but whatever question we ask, we have to answer it ourselves. That good?”

 

Poe slowly smirks, and Finn can only imagine what is running through his head right now.

 

Finn smiles too, because it’s hard not to right now. “I’ll go first. How old are you?”

 

Poe leans back into his chair, answering, “29. Please don’t tell me you’re only like college aged or something. You look young.”

“Um, excuse me but I’m actually 22. I’m basically an old man now. I sit on the porch and read the newspaper everyday,” Finn teases, trying not to reveal the fact that he actually goes and sits on his front porch on nice mornings and reads the newspaper.

 

“Haha, you’re only 22. You can’t even rent a car yet,” Poe smiles smug, as if Finn is dying to just go and rent a car right this minute.

 

Finn is quick to shoot back, “Hey, cool it Grandpa. I’ll rent any car that I want. No one can say no to this smile,” Finn smiles big for emphasis, waggling his eyebrows at Poe.

 

Poe laughs and raises his hands in surrender, “Alright, you got me there,” he pauses, caught up in how nice Finn’s smile actually is, before returning his attention to the conversation, “Okay, my turn. Are you in college or have you graduated yet?”

 

“I actually just graduated this May. I got my degree in journalism. I’m currently just a writer for Fader Magazine, but I’m hoping to be the editor-in-chief one day. I just love writing and making things that people find interesting. I also hope to release a novel at some point.” Finn overshares, surprise surprise.

 

“That is really cool, actually. I wish I could write. I’m a flight instructor and I do some modeling on the side,” Poe always hates saying that last part, like he’s gonna sound vain or something.

 

“That doesn’t surprise me one bit. You've got that bad boy vibe. Also, your face. It’s very nice,” Finn can’t help but compliment Poe. He already is in love with the way that a rose pink color floods Poe’s high cheekbones.

 

“It’s just a way to get money on the side. Because, let’s face it. A little extra money can’t hurt. Plus, I kind of like it,” Poe laughs, “Not to sound incredibly narcissistic, but it’s fun to pose and look into the distance all sultry-like.”

 

Finn lets a giggle go through his body, and Poe smiles endearingly, feeling the need to protect him surge through his body.

 

The rest of the conversation flows so easily. Finn learns that Poe has no siblings, but he has a dog named BB-8 that he would take a bullet for, and he learns that Poe is incredibly charming and charismatic and Finn literally wants to marry him. Poe learns that Finn is also an only child, but he has a best friend of 7 years who is named Rey, who he completely gushes about. Poe would be lying if it didn’t find it incredibly adorable to listen to Finn brag about his friends.

 

Time flies, and Poe’s phone goes off because it’s time to feed BB-8 dinner. 

 

“Holy shit, it’s already 4:30. We’ve been sitting here for almost 3 hours,” Poe laughs in disbelief, looking up from his phone to Finn, who is equally surprised.

“Oh, fuck, I told Rey I would check in after the movie. She’s called me 7 times now,” Finn scrolls through the messages and the calls, already knowing she’s going to yell at him later.

 

Poe has a small smile on his face, finding it cute that Finn has a friend that checks on him throughout the day. But then he realizes that he has to leave Finn, and his face falls.

 

But then he remembers that he has the whole rest of his life with Finn.

 

“Give me your phone, I’ll put my number in,” Poe suggests, grabbing Finn’s phone when handed to him. Their fingers brush, and Finn swears he feels an electric pulse in between their skin.

 

Finn picks at a broken nail while he waits for Poe to put in his number, and there’s a million thoughts flooding his head right now. “Here you go,” Poe gently gives Finn his phone back, who pockets it,”Text me, okay? We’ll meet up again soon.”

 

Finn nods and smiles, hands twitching at his sides, not knowing what to do with them. Does he hug Poe? Is that too awkward? Should he just le-

 

His thoughts are cut off with Poe pressing a short kiss to his cheek. He feels butterflies rip through his stomach in that moment, feeling weak in the knees from how utterly gentle and sweet Poe is with him already.

 

“See you later,” Poe grins, waving as he walks backwards then turns around, sticking his hands in his pockets and walking out the door.

 

Finn literally feels like he’s gonna shit his pants. Oh my god. What the fuck just happened?? How is he supposed to survive their first kiss if he almost just peed his pants from a cheek kis- oh god, they’re gonna kiss eventually. Oh my god Finn is actually going to die. He can’t handle this.

 

He’s pulled out of his thoughts by one of the coffee shop employees gently placing a hand on his arm and asking if he’s okay. Which, yeah, he can see how he looks kind of concerning just standing in the middle of the store with a blank look on his face as he gets lost in his own thoughts.

 

“Yeah, man, I’m good, thanks,” Finn waves the man off as he leaves the store, quickly pulling out his phone and pressing Rey’s contact to call her.

 

She picks up after two rings, and she’s ready to ask Finn where has he been, but he cuts her off with, “Rey, you are not going to fucking believe this.”

 

\--

 

When Rey enters Finn’s apartment, she’s met with a mildly troubling sight.

Finn is sat on his couch, staring with a vacant look at his wrist, which is now blank of any words. For the first time since he was 18. Which. Weird.

 

“Finn, you okay?” Rey questions lightly, as if she’s going to scare him off as she sets down her keys on the table next to the front door and approaches her best friend.

 

Finn almost jolts from his thoughts, like Rey scared him. He looks at her for a second, as if he doesn’t know where he is. But then, he pulls himself back to reality and from his thoughts.

 

“Yeah, I think that I’m more than okay,” Finn slowly smiles, reminded of what had happened earlier in the day.

 

Rey beams, matching Finn’s smile, because she’s like, super pumped to hear all about everything.

 

“Spill. I want to know everything. Tell me all about him,” Rey’s words are fast, because she’s literally bursting at the seams,full of anticipation and excitement.

 

Finn tells her, well, everything. He starts with first seeing curly hair and wondering why the person stood out to him, he tells her about the feeling he got when _it_ happened and how Poe felt the same thing but handled it so much better, he tells her how they had an instant connection as soon as they sat down and how easy it is with him.

 

Rey is smiling possibly brighter than Finn the whole time he’s telling the story. Like, she’s pretty sure her cheeks are gonna fall off from how hard she’s been smiling. As Finn finishes, his smile doesn’t falter, and Rey can practically see the sheer happiness and sunlight seeping from his every pore.

 

“Finn, I’m literally peeing my pants because I am so fucking excited for you. You deserve this so much. I remember the feeling when I met Jessika, and it’s not something you forget,” Rey adds, her excitement truly battling Finn’s.

 

“I know, I mean it was literally so different from anything I had ever experienced before. I like, still can’t fathom the fact that I experienced that and met him. I mean in the literal weirdest of situations, too. Like how often does a sheep get loose in front of a mall? What the fuck?” Finn is astonished still by the fate of this whole soulmates thing and how the universe makes it happen.

 

“When are you seeing him again?” Rey leans forward, dying to know when Finn is going to finally have a proper date.

 

Finn’s face changes from a smile to absolute shock, like he forgot to do something. “Oh fuck! I haven’t texted him! He gave me his number but I was too caught up with being a fuckin’ drama queen that I forgot to text!” Finn frantically pulls his phone out of his pocket, searching for the new contact name.

 

Rey laughs because of course, of course Finn would be _that_ absent-minded person to do something like this. “You’re such a fucking idiot,” Rey is laughing hard, finding this incredibly funny and ironic.

 

Finn flips her off and returns his attention to his phone, finding a contact name starting with Poe. And, he can’t help but giggle like a child at how cute and endearing the contact name is.

 

Poe DAMNeron.

 

Finn swears he’s in love as he opens a new message, ready to be suave and cool.

 

But then he realizes that he, Finn, is definitely not suave and has never been cool.

 

Fucking great.

 

“What do I say? I don’t know what to say oh god help,” Finn shoves the phone towards Rey, who is finding this all too hilarious.

 

Rey rolls her eyes and begins typing out a message quickly. “Don’t send it before I can read it, okay?” Finn is desperate in his words because there have been too many instances where Rey types out a vulgar message without him knowing and sending it to different people.

 

Rey waves him off and finishes typing, showing Finn the phone with a satisfied look on her face. Finn reads the message, which says:

 

‘hey where do u wanna meet tonight so i can give u the succ ;) just give me a time and place bby and i’ll be there ;) dont forget to send pics of what ur wearing’

 

The text is followed by a plethora of the wet emojis and the finger emoji pointing to that one emoji that is making a hole with the fingers, oh and she didn’t forget to include at least 11 of the eggplant ones.

 

Fuck you, Rey.

 

“I hate you literally so much, I hope you know that,” Finn deadpans as he frantically erases the whole message, as if if it stays in the message box for one more second then Poe will somehow be able to read it.

 

Rey cackles, leaning forward and laughing onto Finn’s shoulder. Finn stares off at the wall across the room, his face wearing an expression that says murder.

 

Rey recovers herself, and sits up again. But with one look at Finn’s face, she bursts into a fit of laughter again.

 

“You aren’t funny at all. Like, zero percent funny. Negative 300 percent funny,” Finn now makes eye contact with her, willing lasers to come out of his eyes.

 

“Okay, okay, fine,” Rey wipes her eyes and gestures for the phone again, but Finn pulls his arm back, not letting her take it, “I promise I won’t do that again. I’ll write your dumb message for you.”

 

Finn hesitates, but realizes that he sure as fuck isn’t going to write it so he begrudgingly hands the phone over to Rey, who takes it with a smile. Finn mocks her smile before falling back and stuffing his face into a pillow.

 

Finn hears a few seconds more of the sound of the iPhone keys clacking before Rey says, “Okay, done,” before handing the phone back to Finn.

 

Finn eagerly sits up, excited and nervous to see what she has written. This time, the message reads:

 

‘hey poe, it’s finn :-) i was wondering if you wanted to meet again for dinner on Friday night at 8?’

 

He decides to send the message before he gets cold feet about being too upfront. Finn watches the text turn into a little blue bubble, and watches the little ‘Delivered’ thing go underneath the next.

 

“It’s sent and delivered,” Finn looks up at Rey, who is biting her lip in a smile, “Oh god, it’s delivered. What do I do now? Just wait for my dea-”, Finn isn’t even able to finish his sentence before a ping comes from the phone that is still in his hands.

 

“Read it!” Rey shoves him, extremely eager to see what Finn’s mate has to say.

 

Finn’s hands are slightly shaking as he places his thumb over the scanner to unlock his phone and he opens the message.

 

‘Are you asking me out on a date? ;)’

 

Finn does not scream, no he doesn’t, it’s more of a gasp. A scream would be much too dramatic and Finn is literally the least dramatic person in the world.

 

Rey gives an ‘oh my god’ and laughs at the text. She immediately picks up the phone and types out a message for Finn, who looks like he’s in hysterics.

 

She swiftly types out:

 

‘only if you’re saying yes. i wouldn’t risk my masculinity for anything less.’

 

Finn reads it and lightly shoves Rey. “Hey! My masculinity is not fragile,” Finn glares at her, although he’s secretly thankful she knows him well enough to know what he would say if he wasn’t as nervous as he is.

 

Rey is about to shoot back a witty response when the phone pins again. She unlocks it with her own fingerprint and reads it aloud:

 

‘Well, if it’s a matter of your masculinity then of course I have to say yes. See you on Friday ;)’

 

The message ends with Poe’s address and Finn looks both overwhelmed with fear and excitement at the same time.

  
He has a date.

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading!! feedback is A+++
> 
> tumblr: generallando


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